Gophers head coach Tim Brewster hollers instructions to his defensive unit in the fourth quarter vs. the Purdue Boilermakers at the Metrodome in Minneapolis on Saturday September 22, 2007. (Richard Marshall, Pioneer Press)

If Tim Brewster and Bret Bielema don’t like each other, they’re not really saying it.

At least not publicly.

It doesn’t matter, though, because you can get a sense from talking to them and their players of the bitterness that exists and how it caused the hatred between their teams to intensify since Wisconsin’s 41-34 victory over Minnesota last year at the Metrodome.

Although he couldn’t hear the conversation between the two coaches during their brief meeting at midfield after the game last season, Gophers defensive end Willie VanDeSteeg knows “they exchanged a couple words.”

“I think when you’re in a leadership role like that you would want to talk professionally and be professional about it,” said VanDeSteeg, now a senior captain. “Obviously, that wasn’t the case, and they started a rivalry. But that’s part of college football, and we’re going to do everything we can to defend coach Brewster and show him we’re ready to play.”

Brewster and Bielema, who are trying to fire their teams up for Saturday, when the Gophers play Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium for Paul Bunyan’s Axe, wouldn’t talk about what was said on the field that day, although Bielema proclaimed to reporters after the game that if Brewster wanted a rivalry, “you got one.”

“He said something like that. I don’t know if there’s any bad blood or that type of thing,” the Gophers’ second-year coach said. “Obviously, it’s an important rivalry game. Both teams want to win very much.”

Both coaches tried to downplay the edginess between them this week yet addressed some of the issues that have added fuel to their rivalry — whether it’s their recruiting battles or their much-talked-about midfield encounter.

Bielema said Monday that there was nothing to explain about him making a point to sprint out and shake Brewster’s hand immediately after last year’s game. The assumption was that the Badgers’ coach made a sly gesture in response to Brewster saying during the week that he would be the first one to run out and retrieve the Axe on the opposing sideline if the Gophers won.

“I was really excited to get a victory, get over and shake Tim’s hand, and get with our team and celebrate,” he said.

Brewster said he thought Bielema was “having fun with it,” and that they didn’t say much.

“I was just teasing him,” he said. “He ran pretty good.”

But Bielema didn’t seem amused after the game when he vented about Gophers wide receiver Eric Decker allegedly punching then-Badgers cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu in the groin while blocking him on a running play. He also spoke about how Brewster’s son, Clint, then a redshirt freshman quarterback, allegedly instigated some trash talking with kicker Taylor Mehlhaff on the field after the game.

“I do remember the situation,” said Gophers kicker Joel Monroe, whom Mehlhaff reportedly was going to congratulate. “I spotted (Mehlhaff) before we crossed the field. He was kind of wandering away from me. I got the impression they were looking for each other.”

Mehlhaff is gone. Clint Brewster is, too. And so, for now, is Decker, who had six catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns last year against Wisconsin. Minnesota’s leading receiver is sidelined because of a left ankle sprain.

But Gophers sophomore quarterback Adam Weber said the teams wouldn’t forget what happened.

“You just remember all the little things that go into games,” he said, “Little fights or little things going on, you just remember all of that. Last year was my first game ever playing against Wisconsin. You could really feel a difference in that game. … There’s actually some anger between the schools.”

Adding even more hostility between the coaches is that there are recruits who have switched sides.

Badgers sophomore and former Armstrong receiver David Gilreath, who was named Big Ten co-offensive player of the week for gaining 235 all-purpose yards last week against Indiana, is a former Minnesota commit. Freshman defensive end Brendan Kelly of Eden Prairie and freshman punter Brad Nortman are as well.

Bielema, who once said on the radio at a Minnesota-Wisconsin basketball game that he could get any football player in Minnesota he wanted, talked this week about signing Minnesota kids as “something we will continue to hopefully do.”

Brewster, who has received oral commitments from five of the state’s top players in the 2009 class, thought otherwise.

“His tune has probably changed a little bit,” said Brewster, who also talked a lot this week about junior defensive back Kim Royston, a Cretin-Derham Hall graduate who decided to pay his way at Minnesota after transferring from Wisconsin over the summer. “I don’t know. You have to ask Bret, because Bret is Bret.”

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